Reclamation and Redevelopment
Initially, use of the land for housing was considered undesirable by the local statutory bodies for two reasons; the Council's continued wish to protect the site for much needed employment in the area, and; the Environment Agency's concerns regarding the extent and nature of the remaining contamination
Regarding the protection of the site for a major employer, after almost a decade of marketing and false starts, no employment use was in prospect so this was unnecessarily blocking redevelopment of a significant urban brownfield site. Gateshead Council had been particularly concerned to maintain sites in their area which were large enough to attract a major manufacturing facility. As time went on, the likelihood of such an employer wishing to establish themselves in the area became less and less likely so it became harder for the Council to justify sterilising the land with an unrealistic intended use.
Regarding the EA's concerns, this needed to be addressed by a comprehensive programme of sampling, analysis and risk assessment prior to designing a reclamation scheme. This was put in motion by Wimpey Homes who assembled a project team to carry out pre acquisition due diligence and pre planning consultation. This proceeded despite Gateshead Council's continuing concerns about loss of employment land until the project team was joined by fashion designer Wayne Hemingway, who brought his personal passion for innovation and skills of persuasion to bear on key members and officers of the Council.
As a result of internal reorganisation, Wimpey's interest in the site was then transferred to their newly formed specialist city centre development business, George Wimpey City. Several individuals who had been involved with the site since the successful land bid moved from Wimpey Homes to George Wimpey City and provided continuity for progressing the project;
Ronnie Baird, Managing Director
Ian Laight, Development Director
Fraser Ranson, Sales & Marketing Director
Richard Cook, Production Director
In addition to those who had previous roles in the regional business, the Board of George Wimpey City also consisted of two other Directors who had joined from other housebuilders;
Jim Hiscock, Finance Director
Mike Roberts, Commercial Director
While conceptual design work with the Hemingways continued apace, the considerable challenges of achieving a workable remediation scheme were tackled by AIG and Arup in negotiation with the Environment Agency. The central question was whether residential development could take place without removal of all of the underlying contaminated material. After much investigation and testing of the existing ground, a remediation scheme was prepared which removed the isolated hotspots of contamination and cut off pathways from the remaining lower level contamination to the surface and adjoining river, involving a further regrading and capping exercise using clean material imported into the site.
AIG undertook to carry out the remediation with Arup involved in verification of the completed work. AIGs works also included removing many of the large buried obstructions which still remained from the earlier industrial uses and Arup's completion testing included ensuring the bearing capacity of the remediated site was suitable for the intended use. Most importantly, the thickness of the proposed clean capping material was to be measured after being placed to satisfy George Wimpey and Gateshead Council that the work was in compliance with the remediation design.
The twin barriers to development of planning use and contamination are not unusual issues to be overcome for development to take place, however, they were of notable complexity on this particular site and they were only resolved with considerable effort by the professional team involved.
As it happened, neither of these issues were to prove the most contentious barrier to planning consent or implementation, as revealed when the design of the project moved into detailed consultation with the Council.
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